TRIBUTES ARE POURING IN as beloved science professor, 有远见的, 传奇作家约翰·肯尼在为康考迪亚大学的科学项目和学生工作了22年后宣布退休.
“He’s one of the reasons I went into teaching, 特别是在康科迪亚,林赛Kane-Barnese说, associate professor of biology and chemistry. “他的例子, 我所有的教授都这么说, 尤其是他, is why I came back to Concordia — to give back the way they gave to me.”
At a recent celebration on campus, a painting by art professor Sara Fletcher was unveiled to honor John and wife Inga, a longtime Concordia adjunct professor. 这些艺术品, 题为, “爱照亮道路。,” depicts the Kenneys walking hand-in-hand toward the CU Center, 穿着实验室工作服.
“John put his heart and mind into his students, 不仅在课堂上，在实验室里也一样, 观测和互动,Bret Taylor说, professor of mathematics and dean of School of Arts and Sciences. “Everywhere you look, you see people who came under John’s guidance.”
That guidance was always forward-looking.
“He motivated students to see beyond their own personal abilities,泰勒说。. “对于大学来说, he pushed us into a different realm with his vision, and he did that with every student he made a relationship with. He pushed them to think, what else could you do? 你怎么能走得更远呢? 这就是我所看到的遗产, 一个人是否激励了一所大学和学生，让他们超越自己的能力.”
One of Kenney’s earliest students, 埃文·内霍尔特(Evan Neidholt)， 2005年, and wife April ’05 sent a video message from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, 德州, to Kenney’s retirement celebration. April serves as the American liaison between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, working on projects such as the 国际 Space Station, 月球门户和阿尔忒弥斯, which is aiming for the moon and Mars. Evan works in the crew and thermal systems division at Johnson Space Center, and is a project specialist and instrumentation developer.
“在约翰的实验室里，我在工程、仪器和化学物理研究方面有了一个很好的开始,埃文说. “Dr. Kenney and I came to Concordia in the same year, 2001. We started those labs there together. 我学会了如何做研究, 这对我的整个职业生涯都很有帮助，也给我带来了很多我自己做梦都想不到的机会.”
One particularly fond memory is when he and Dr. 肯尼开着一辆U-Haul卡车满载捐赠的实验室科学设备从华盛顿州来到尔湾. Kenney had a knack for getting used science equipment for free.
“你走在创始人大厅里，总能看到一些他得到捐赠的设备,泰勒说。. “People gave because they knew who he was and what he was about.”
阿普丽尔，她生了个医生. 肯尼化学系, 他不仅让埃文开始了研究，还促使他申请了他的“理想学校”,“加州理工学院, 他在哪里完成了博士学位. 埃文随后在喷气推进实验室工作了7年，然后搬到休斯顿去美国宇航局工作.
“I can safely say we could not have done that without Dr. 肯尼，”艾普莉说. “We want to take a moment to thank both of you for the work you’ve done in our lives.”
Professor Kane-Barnese also was a freshman in 2001, the same year Dr. 肯尼加入了教师队伍.
“He was very interactive in his teaching, 例如, jumping off the wall to demonstrate how gases behave,她说。. “我从他的实验室学到的一件重要的事情是，他教会了我们事物是如何工作的，以及如何弄清楚我们在做什么. He helped us make sense of what we were seeing yet gave us the space to learn.”
He also helped launch her into a career in the sciences. While working in his lab over the summer, 她意识到，学习科学不仅意味着进入医学领域，还可以进入研究生院, 研究, 教很多科目. 后来，当她成为菲律宾十大网赌网站的教授时，凯恩-巴尼斯说，肯尼成了她的导师.
“He helped me keep in perspective how to serve my students, 需要注意什么, 教到哪里去,她说。. 在她的有机化学课上, she took a cue from him to make science applicable to everyday life, 探索黄油是如何变黄的，以及咖啡在烘焙和冲泡过程中发生的化学反应.
“He was a great example of making things relatable,她说。.
让人产生共鸣——而且很有趣. Kenney shot darts from a blow gun to help students understand momentum. 他点燃了桌子，从创始人大厅的后面向校园另一边射击土豆枪. Famously, he taught countless students how to make liquid nitrogen ice cream.
“I will never forget learning about physics on a rollercoaster with Dr. Kenney,” wrote Toni Lerner ’03, MBA ’05 in a tribute. “Talk about experiential learning!”
Beyond the experiential learning, Kenney was a true 有远见的.
泰勒说:“约翰是让化学和物理专业开始运作的推动力。. “他在脑海中看到了很多人看不到的东西，他能看到它是如何运作的. 他有足够的精神, 动机, and drive to pull people in those directions — and all for the good of students.”
这种影响改变了我的生活. Cecilia Eiroa Lledo ’15 called John and Inga “my adoptive science parents.” “I did 研究 with them but they also helped me with my personal life and faith,她告诉该杂志.
Dr. Kenney also helped her find internships that fit her interests, and pointed her to Washington State, where she earned a PhD in chemistry. 虽然, Eiroa Lledo获得了著名的Seaborg奖学金，在洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室进行核化学研究. 她给肯尼发邮件说, “我非常幸运，有你们指导和训练我，让我能够实现这些不可思议的目标! 在受到您的启发之前，我从来没有想过我会在这样一个享有盛誉的机构工作!!”
另一名15岁的学生Grace Chong被加州大学洛杉矶分校、南加州大学、加州大学圣地亚哥分校和莱斯大学的博士项目录取. 她感谢她的导师. 肯尼博士. 林赛Kane-Barnese.
“Working with them helped me recognize that I have passion for teaching,” Grace said. 他的那些研究生学习成绩优异的事实“告诉我们，我们的课程是严格的, our students are learning the fundamentals, 他们在本科期间广泛接触研究，这使他们成为博士研究生,肯尼告诉该杂志.
当博士. Kenney was “very much a big-picture person,正如凯恩-巴尼斯所说, his picture was big enough to encompass the divine.
“John was always centered not just on science but on faith,泰勒说。. 他很清楚，这是理解造物主和他所给予的东西的一个连接点.”
许多学生和以前的同事都评论了肯尼对他们生活的深刻精神影响.
“你在科学上展示上帝作为的热情鼓舞了许多人, 对我来说!” wrote former campus pastor, Steven Borst ’88.
“你对基督和科学的热情是我在职业和个人生活中一直带着的东西,切尔西·恩策尔写道.
Dr. 肯尼还获得了康考迪亚当时收到的最大一笔拨款. 其中包括为内华达州大盆地天文台的一架望远镜的新设备提供资金, 以及在菲律宾十大网赌网站自己的校园购买和安装望远镜和天文台的资金.
“I can sit at my desk at Concordia and make [the telescope] move, tell it what kind of data to take in, 跟踪这个对象或那个对象,” said Kenney about the Great Basin telescope, 为此，康考迪亚帮助购买了一台高分辨率光谱仪，以更详细地探索宇宙. “Students have every chance to discover exoplanets. 在天空中有比天文学家或天文台更有趣的项目.”
一如既往的实用, he also noted that by working with observatory equipment, "学生们学习了大量的"可转移技能"这些技能在任何科学或技术工作场所都能找到.”
Still thinking big on another occasion, 肯尼帮助21岁的物理学专业学生苏珊·埃舍尔巴赫(Susan Eschelbach)带领一个团队设计并建造了一个能够克服各种障碍的人力漫游车, for a NASA competition for high school and college students. 这个四人团队构思出来了, 3-D-modeled, 然后建造了探测器, learning to weld and cut aluminum, and create suspension and steering systems.
“The steering system of this rover is absolutely amazing,” Kenney said of the project. “他们没有赢得最后的奖项，但在创新和执行方面得到了很好的评价. It took a tremendous amount of effort on their part. 他们学会了如何筹款, 寻找赞助商, 当他们遇到困难的时候，请专门的专家帮忙——甚至去当地的自行车店了解更多关于齿轮是如何工作的.”
In 2022, 约翰获得了欧文商会颁发的年度杰出教育家奖，该奖项旨在表彰本年度公立或私立学校的杰出教育家, 学院或大学. It was simply confirmation of what a generation of students already knew.
“你们俩都是康考迪亚大学的一份精美礼物，你们的遗产将继续激励你们的同事为学生和上帝服务,18岁的理查德·刘易斯说. “感谢你们为康考迪亚所付出的一切，感谢你们为子孙后代留下的美好遗产!22届硕士利亚·罗尼(Leah Roney)写道.
“It has been an honor to serve with you these past years at Concordia,” wrote Dr. 尤金·金. “You have been an inspiration, a prayer warrior, and a servant leader. Our campus has been enlivened by your ministry, and we will miss you. 你的影响将永存.”
学校还专门为学生们举办了第二次告别聚会——一个冰淇淋社交活动，学生们制作了液氮冰淇淋.
由工作人员兼艺术家萨拉·弗莱克特为肯尼迪夫妇画的《菲律宾十大网赌网站》